“Ugh, I am not ready to eat like a college student.”

This was one of my first thoughts when I moved back onto campus. Of the many things I looked forward to as I approached my return to IC, how and what I eat at college was just not one of them. At home, I only have to saunter down a flight of stairs to be fed- no walk down hills through the snow necessary. The kitchen has elbow room and even a supply of food!

But how we think about food, good and bad, especially as college students, is why I chose to write this blog. It is of interest to all. Eating and drinking are some of the most basic and necessary universal human experiences. And in the era of Supersize Me (if you have not seen this documentary, you should- but prepare to be disgusted) vs. “Let’s organic-ify everything!” (my roommate’s high school got an organic chef and now only serves gross grass-like foods), it seems especially pertinent to slice up what we eat, how we think about it, and why we pick that. “You are what you eat” refers to both your actual body and what it says about who you are.

I am not extremely obese or very skinny. I am not a great cook or someone who ruins every dish they touch. I will never be a food critic, because you can only take a tiny bite, and it usually an organ of some animal you like to feed bread to. (Foie gras anyone?)

However, I think food does spice up our days. What you eat is not a matter of survival for the modern man. But our cuisine makes it about more than nutrition, how poetry makes words more than communication or dance creates movement beyond transportation. And so, I begin my semester-long journey to answer the question: “What do Ithacakidz eat?”

– – – And if you didn’t notice: Get ready to be deep-fried in every terrible food-related pun I can think of.